Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947-1956 in 11 caves on the upper northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem, and is -1300 ft. below sea level. These Scrolls are the remains of a library that belonged to an ancient Jewish sect. This community inhabited an arid plateau on the northeast corner of the Dead Sea and was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the Jewish-Roman War (66 C.E.). Scrolls were deposited in caves situated in the cliffs behind the community's central building.


A Jar which contained the Dead Sea Scrolls

The manuscripts called the Dead Sea Scrolls represent over 900 separate writings representing as many as 350 separate works in multiple copies, many of which are represented only by fragments. Cave 4 alone contained 520 texts in 15,000 fragments. The Jewish sectarians who formed the Qumran community wrote some of them. A great many were part of the wealth of literature circulating widely in Judea of the Second Temple period, and were brought to the site by the sectarians.


This library contains copies of the Scriptures (Isaiah Scroll), copies of other non-canonical books known to us (Enoch), and holy writings that the group itself produced (rules of faith, commentaries on Scriptures, and many other fascinating works otherwise unknown to us) . In Cave 3, there was one Copper Scroll found, which contains a list of 64 hiding places where gold, silver, sacred objects, and other scrolls were hidden. Some of these works, such as 1 Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, are known from other sources as well. Thus, the Qumran documents give insights, not only into the workings of the Dead Sea sect itself, but also into the wider context and thought-world of Second Temple Judaism. 


A Sample Scroll

The majority of the scrolls were written in the Hebrew Language (approximately 90-95%) with Assyrian Block script. From this majority there are a few cases in which the scribes used Paleo-Hebrew. In addition to the texts found in Hebrew there were also some texts written in Aramaic and Greek. 


The majority of the scrolls were made from animal skins but there were also a few made from parchment. The major exception to these is the Copper scroll, which as its name suggests, was made from copper.


Jews in Judea produced the Dead Sea Scrolls during a momentous time. They contribute to our understanding of this time period, and represent broad aspects of both ancient Judaism and early Christianity. From these texts, it is possible to trace the development of the Hebrew language, to learn about the differentmanuscript traditions, including knowledge of scribal practices in use by the community. This data can enable a fairly accurate historical reconstruction of this formative time period. This period was significant in the history of what later developed into Rabbinic Judaism and the Scrolls are concurrent with the origins of Christianity. With respect to the study of Second Temple Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the single most important discovery of our time.